Art of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Art of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Property from the George and Julie Alderman Collection
Ameca-Etzatlán style, Protoclassic, circa 100 BC - AD 250
Lot Closed
October 22, 03:46 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
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Read more.Lot Details
Description
Property from the George and Julie Alderman Collection
Jalisco Musician and Partner
Ameca-Etzatlán style, Protoclassic, circa 100 BC - AD 250
Height (female figure): 14 ⅛ in (35.9 cm); Depth: 13 in (33 cm)
Height (male figure): 16 ⅞ in (43 cm); Depth: 15 ½ in (39.4 cm)
George and Julie Alderman, Baltimore, acquired in the 1970s or early 1980s
Thence by descent to the present owner
The highly animated couple portrays a musical courtship. The ceremony includes the male holding a rattle and playing a double flute as he leans deeply forward to engage the female as she leans back on her arms.
As with other Jalisco musicians, the physiognomy shows a fully engaged individual; this figure is masterfully balanced on deeply bent legs, large feet and an extremely flattened torso. The female figure has youthful, wideset breasts, and rounded legs. Each figure has the distinctive Ameca style elongated heads, slender noses, and large rimmed eyes. Each is decorated with raised cicatrice shoulders. The male wears a crested turban secured with draping, textured headbands and the triangular loincloth rests atop the highly rounded buttocks. The female has a similarly crested turban secured with a headband adorned with triple medallions.
For a version of the animated musician, see Hasso von Winning, Shaft Tomb Figures of West Mexico, Los Angeles, 1974, inside front cover, and p. 138, fig. 175; and for the posture, see ibid., p. 126, fig. 124.